The present invention relates to a device for generating electromagnetic radiation by accelerating charges on a small serpentine conductor.
Electromagnetic radiation may be generated by the acceleration (deceleration) of the charged particles such as electrons. This radiation may be Bremsstrahlung radiation, for example, of the type occurring when electrons are rapidly decelerated when striking a target, or as synchrotron radiation occurring when the trajectory of high-speed electrons is curved, for example, as the electrons pass through a magnetic field.
This latter principle is used in a “free-electron laser” (FEL) where a transversely aligned magnetic array, often termed a “wiggler”, produces a perturbation in the path of relativistic electrons. A similar effect may be seen in a “Bloch oscillator” where the perturbation of the electrons is caused by the periodic lattice potential of a crystal rather than a magnetic wiggler.